Mechanism for Providing Extended Functionality to Command Line Instructions

1. In a command line operating environment, a computer-executable method comprising: executing each command on a command line in a first execution mode or in an alternate execution mode, wherein executing the command in the alternate execution mode occurs when the command on the command line includes an instruction, the instruction comprising a call to a method provided by the command line operating environment to execute in the alternate execution mode, the alternate execution mode being provided by the command line operating environment such that the command line operating environment provides extended functionality to execute the command and the command being executed on the command line does not incorporate code for extending functionality to execute the command in the alternate execution mode; wherein the instruction to execute in the alternate execution mode also comprises a switch indicating the alternate execution mode, wherein the switch activates a corresponding hook statement within a cmdlet base class from which commands are derived, wherein the hook statement invokes the method provided by the command line operating environment to execute in the alternate execution mode, and wherein the alternate execution mode visually displays simulated results of executing the command.

2. The computer-executable method of claim 1 , wherein the switch comprises “whatif”.

3. A system that provides a command line operating environment, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory, the memory being allocated for a plurality of computer-executable instructions which are loaded into the memory for execution by the processor, the computer-executable instructions performing a method comprising: executing each command on a command line in a first execution mode or in an alternate execution mode, wherein executing the command in the alternate execution mode occurs when the command on the command line includes an instruction, the instruction comprising a call to a method provided by the command line operating environment to execute in the alternate execution mode, the alternate execution mode being provided by the command line operating environment such that the command line operating environment provides extended functionality to execute the command and the command being executed on the command line does not incorporate code for extending functionality to execute the command in the alternate execution mode; wherein the instruction to execute in the alternate execution mode also comprises a switch indicating the alternate execution mode, wherein the switch activates a corresponding hook statement within a cmdlet base class from which commands are derived, wherein the hook statement invokes the method provided by the command line operating environment to execute in the alternate execution mode.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the switch comprises “whatif”.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the alternate execution mode visually displays simulated results of executing the command.

6. One or more processor-accessible storage media comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a device to perform actions comprising: executing each command on a command line in a first execution mode or in an alternate execution mode, wherein executing the command in the alternate execution mode occurs when the command on the command line includes an instruction, the instruction comprising a call to a method provided by the command line operating environment to execute in the alternate execution mode, the alternate execution mode being provided by the command line operating environment such that the command line operating environment provides extended functionality to execute the command and the command being executed on the command line does not incorporate code for extending functionality to execute the command in the alternate execution mode; wherein the instruction to execute in the alternate execution mode also comprises a switch indicating the alternate execution mode, wherein the switch activates a corresponding hook statement within a cmdlet base class from which commands are derived, wherein the hook statement invokes the method provided by the command line operating environment to execute in the alternate execution mode.

7. The one or more processor-accessible storage media comprising processor-executable instructions of claim 6 , wherein the switch comprises “whatif”.

8. The one or more processor-accessible storage media comprising processor-executable instructions of claim 6 , wherein the alternate execution mode visually displays simulated results of executing the command.